Linked List: December 2019

Greta Thunberg Time’s 2019 Person of the Year

Greta won’t care, but dictators and wannabe dictators around the world will be upset.

Ad Astra

David Ehrlich writing about James Gray’s new film, Ad Astra:

In “Ad Astra,” strength isn’t the opposite of weakness — strength is the acceptance of weakness. It’s easier to build a wall than it is to construct a bridge, but only the latter will ever get you anywhere. Gray took that idea and expanded it into a vaguely Oedipal space-age myth about the fait accompli of a man becoming his own father, and the heroism required to set coordinates for a new destination.

It is a moving film, with understated music and wonderful cinematography, starring Brad Pitt in top form as a cool-headed astronaut.

I liked it better than Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.